(Closed) SPINOFF: Do you pronounce things the way people in your area do?

• IzzyBear
• 5 years ago

• Wedding: October 2013

I say “caramel” as “carmel”, which is different than my area

I say “been” as “bin”, same as my area

I say “bowie” as “bo”, same as my area

I say “crayon” as “cran”, said no where in the US apparently lol

I say “lawyer” as “loyer”, same a my area

I say “cole slaw”, not  just “slaw”, different than my area

I say “y’all”, same as my area

I say “mayonaisse” as “man-aze”, same as my area

I say “pajamas” as in “jam”, different from my area

I say “pecan” as “pee-can”, same as my area

I say “soda”, same as my area

I say “crawfish”, same as my area

I say “syrup” both ways (“sir” and “sear”)…

I say “sub”, same as my area (fun fact, my Fiance and his family say hoagie because they’re from Philly)

I say “water fountain”, same as my area

I say “tennis shoes”, same as my area

I say “interstate”, which isn’t even an option lol

“The City” is NYC to me, same as my area

A drive through liquor store is “The Brew Thru”, same as my area

“Merry, mary, and marry” are all the same, same as my area

Can you tell where I’m located? Lol

• thejucheidea
• 5 years ago

• Wedding: October 2013 - Vine Street Church

I say “caramel” as “carmel”, different than my area

I say “been” as “bin”, same as my area.

I say “bowie” as “bo”, same as my area.

I say “crayon” as “cray-awn”, different than my area.

I say “lawyer” as “loyer”, different than my area.

I say “slaw”, same as my area.

I say “you guys”, different than my area.

I say “mayonaisse” as “may-uh-naze”, different than my area.

I say “pajamas” as in “father”, same as my area.

I say “pecan” as “PEE-can”, different than my area.

I say “soda”, different than my area.

I say “crawdad”, different than my area.

I say “roundabout”, same as my area.

I say “syrup” as “sir”, same as my area.

I say “sub”, same as my area.

I say “water fountain”, same as my area.

I say “tennis shoes”, same as my area.

I say “freeway”, different than my area.

I say “the devil’s beating his wife behind the kitchen door”, different than my area.

“The City” is NYC to me, same as my area

I say “brew thru”, but we don’t have them in my area, so there’s no name for it here.

“Merry, mary, and marry” are all the same, same as my area.

So I’m half-and-half. Most of these are explained by the fact that my dad is from Southern California and then I was born and raised in Middle Tennessee and went to college in Vermont and Ohio. I’m a weird linguistic mix.

• vorpalette
• 5 years ago

• Wedding: August 2013

car-mel – same
beh-n (like the ‘e’ sound in ‘set’) – same 
boo-wie – different
cran – different (I don’t even see that on the map)
loy-yer – slightly different
slaw – no, different
you guys – same
mah-nayze – other
pajamas, ‘jam’ – same
PEE-can – different (though I NEVER say this because…gross)
soda – different (I hate the word ‘pop’)
crayfish – same
roundabout – different (we only had them in this area within the last couple of years, so I’m shocked we even have a word for it)
sir-up – same
sub – same
drinking fountain – same
tennis shoes – same
highway – same
sunshower – different (wtf, everyone I know calls it that)
“The City” – other
drive-through liquor store – what?? same/different as it looks like my area is split?
Mary/merry/marry same – same 

• IzzyBear
• 5 years ago

• Wedding: October 2013

@vorpalette:  looks like both of us are the only people who say “cran” haha.

• ANGELaaimt
• 5 years ago

• Wedding: September 2014

I’m an upstate NY transplant, that moved to the Chicago suburbs.  The only thing that really sticks out (to me) is the people native to here tend to say “yous” like “yous guys”, or “it’s good to see yous”.

drives me bananas.

I probably say all sorts of things differently, but I can’t think of any besides saying soda instead of pop 😉

• FauxBoho
• 5 years ago

• Wedding: March 2014

As an Australian living in Canada I pronounce everything differently. It’s amazing how many people tell me I’m saying it wrong. Or they can’t understand what I’m saying because of my accent. I sound half english half aussie so it blows my mind. 

The other day I had a girlfriend around, this is how our conversation went down:

Me: Would you like some ice?

Her: Some what?

Me: Some Ice..

Her: Ummmm some arse?

Me: Ice Ice, would you like some ice??

Her: What is that?

Me: Ummmm frozen water.

Her: Ohhhhhhh Aiiiicceeee

• icanhearyousmile
• 5 years ago

• Wedding: November 2013

I say “caramel” as “carra mel”, same as my area

I say “been” as “bin”, same as my area.

I say “bowie” as “boo”, same as my area. (UPDATE: Enthusiastic Marylanders have alerted us that there is indeed a town named “Bowie, Md.” that is pronounced “Boo-wie.” <– True story, we have a number of friends that live in Bowie. XD)

I say “crayon” as “cray-awn”, different than my area.

I say “lawyer” as “loyer”, same as my area.

I say “cole slaw”, different than my area.

I say “y’all”, different than my area.

I say “mayonaisse” as “man-aze”, same as my area.

I say “pajamas” as in “father”, same as my area.

I say “pecan” as “pick-ahn”, different than my area.

I say “soda”, same as my area.

I say “crawdaddy”, different than my area. (I am one of the few I know who adds the -dy on the end)

I say “traffic circle”, same as my area.

I say “syrup” as “sear”, different than my area.

I say “sub”, same as my area. (That said, Wawa has hoagies and they’re bomb diggity)

I say “water fountain”, same as my area.

I say “tennis shoes”, same as my area.

I say interstate or highway. None of this freeway nonsense.

There is no term for rain when there’s sunshine. That’s a rarity here.

“The City” actually Washington DC for us. “New York City” is New York City here.

We have drive through liquor stores but we don’t have a term.

“Merry, mary, and marry” are all the same, same as my area. (But most natives say Murr-land as Maryland instead of Mer-i-land)

It’s so funny that this came up because I was just listening to my co-workers discuss different names for the same thing (desk vs credensa; I forget the other one). xDDDD

• AB Bride
• 5 years ago

• Wedding: January 2011

I usually say carramel, but sometimes carmel.

Been – with the ee same as my area I guess

I don’t know what a Bowie Knife is, but I would say Bo

cray-ahn

loyer

coleslaw

you or guys, never you guys

man-aze

pa jam as

pee-can

pop – most of the time

crayfish I guess, it doesn’t come up though

traffic circle

sir-up

sub

water fountain and I pronounce water they way it’s spelled

runners most of the time

highway

sunshower

the city is the nearest major city when in a small town or out in a field

no drive through liquor stores here, but I’ve seen one in another province

Mary – all 3 are the same I think, maybe a super subtle difference?

• Aquaria
• 5 years ago

• Wedding: February 2013

My area is a mixed bag, the crossroads between NYC and Philly, so each person you talk to will have a different pronunciation. The way I say things:

– bin

– bo

– CRAY-on

– LOY-er

– coleslaw

– you guys

– MAY-uh-nays

– pa-JAH-muhs

– PEE-can

– soda

– crayfish

– circle

– SI (as in “sit”) rup

– sub

– water fountain

– sneakers

– highway

– sunshower

– I never knew such a thing existed

– all 3 are different. ME (as in “set”) ree, MARE-ee, MA (as in “cat”) ree

-CARRA-mel 

– and of course “The City” is NEW YAWK!

• Miss Radish
• 5 years ago

My SO and I can’t even agree on how things are pronounced, and we grew up about an hour apart, but in Canada.

carra-mel

bin

I have never heard of a bowie knife.

cray-ahn

loy-er

coleslaw

you guys

may-nayz

I’m pa-jaw-mahs, he’s pa-jam-mahs

PEE-kan

Pop

Crayfish

Roundabout

SIR-up

sub

Just a fountain

Sneakers

Highway

Sunshower

“The City” is Toronto!

I have never heard of a drive-through beer place.

Mary and marry is the same, merry is different.

• Miss Radish
• 5 years ago

@FauxBoho:  We had similar problems at my old work (a resort in northern Ontario), when Americans would come up for a week. It wasn’t about pronounciation, but the actual meaning of words. For us, ice(d) tea is like Lipon, Nestea, Barqs. For them, ice(d) tea is… cold tea.

• kittyface
• 5 years ago

• Wedding: March 2013

I love love love these maps.

I’m a Canadian transplant to the southern US and have lived in two areas of my home country with very specific regional dialects/ways of speaking. Despite this, I still pronounce nearly all of these the same as they do in NC. With the exception of “law-yer.” Because that’s weird.

Also, interestingly, everyone I know from NC also calls the rain that happens while it’s sunny ‘the devil’s beating his wife’ which isn’t what it shows on the map. Kind of funny.

• Twyla_Smith
• 5 years ago

• Wedding: June 2011

I’ve looked at this map before, and found it very interesting, but I’ll post along! I live in southern Iowa, and have all my life.

“Car-ml” (but I sometimes say carra-mel)

I say “been” like the name Ben

“Bowie” with “bo”

“Cray-awn”

“Loyer”

Sometimes I refer to coleslaw as just “slaw,” but there’s also the apple slaw and whatnot as mentioned

You all or you guys

I say it “May-O-naize”

“Jam”

“pee-KAHN” or “PEE-can,” depends.

Pop

Crawfish or dad

Roundabout

“Sir”

Sub or hoagie

Water/drinking fountain

Tennis shoes, though around here people use the top three interchangibly.

I’d say interstate is what we call “freeways” around here.

No term or expression.

If I say I’m going to “the City,” I mean Des Moines.

We don’t have drive-thru liquor stores, so no term here!

Mary/Marry same, Merry I stress the “e”

This isn’t on the map, but something that I’ve noticed I do personally is how I pronounce “for” – I pronounce it “fer,” unless I really stop and think before I say it. I also say “dawn” as “don.” My manager at work is from New Orleans, and she likes to correct our linguistics periodically.

• Overjoyed
• 5 years ago

• Wedding: September 2013

I loved that map when I first saw it. I studied sociolinguistics in undergrad and was very fascinated by it. I also enjoyed economic geography. We were allowed to build our own majors, but there weren’t enough classes of this type to piece together a full major or minor from it, but I would have. Majored in Int’l Relations, minored in Foreign Language instead. When you think about it, it’s pretty much the same 2 disciplines but on a global scale.